Bill Clinton Fires Back at Bernie Sanders

RENO, Nev. — Former President Bill Clinton came out swinging against Sen. Bernie Sanders here on Friday, telling supporters that his wife's rival in the presidential race has been operating "remarkably fact free."

"Now, There's been a lot of passion in this primary, and it's fine with me — Hillary's opponent jumped all over me last night, talked about how bad I'd been for African Americans and poor people."" Clinton said, referring to Thursday night's MSNBC/Telemundo town hall.

Sanders said he thinks Bill Clinton did a "pretty good job as president," but criticized Clinton's trade and regulatory policies. The Vermont senator said Bill Clinton's welfare reform legislation "ended up increasing extreme poverty in America for the poorest children in this country." He added that he spoke out against it because, "I thought that was scapegoating some of the most vulnerable people in this country."

"Let me just say this," Clinton said, "that campaign has been remarkably fact free and a lot of the numbers don't add up."

Clinton continued to cheers by citing a piece in the New York Times today in which "the nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman — the most liberal economist writing on a regular basis, who does not work for her, said once again we do not need two parties practicing voodoo economics."

In his short remarks at a field office, Clinton also criticized Sanders for what he called dismissing critics as "shields of Hillary or part of the establishment," instead suggesting Sanders doesn't accept the political realities.

"Progress is hard," Clinton continued, "and nobody who's lived through the last seven years, believes Obama party lost the house in 2010 and lost the senate in 2014 because it wasn't left wing enough."

President Clinton also used his remarks to highlight his wife's economic plans, but in a slight toward Sanders, said "not all of our problems are economic." Clinton highlighted the secretary's immigration proposals, college affordability plans, and clean energy attacks.

He says the strong Republican opposition to Hillary shows that they see her as a bigger threat. "They devoted themselves three years to sliming her. What does that tell you?" Clinton asked.

"They are begging you, please do not nominate, I mean she's actually done something," he said.